[vta]

Federal agents and local authorities raid a medical marijuana operation on Monday in Helena. Authorities from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, Lewis and Clark County sheriff's office and Helena police conducted the search at Montana Cannabis just west of Helena.


HELENA — Federal and local law enforcement officials raided medical marijuana operations in at least six Montana cities Monday.

According to the Oakland, Calif.-based pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access, at least 10 businesses were raided across the state, including in Helena, Missoula, Belgrade, Columbia Falls, Bozeman and Billings.

According to a search and seizure warrant served at one of the raided facilities, officials were looking for evidence of illegal drug trafficking offenses in violation of federal law.

Under state law registered patients are allowed to use limited amounts of the drug for certain health conditions, and registered caregivers can grow up to six plants per registered patient.

Federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration were seen clearing hundreds of marijuana plants out of Montana Cannabis' greenhouses Monday as local law enforcement officials stood by outside the building. Montana Cannabis, with one facility just west of Helena, is one of the state's largest medical marijuana operations.

Several employees were also detained for questioning.

According to Chris Williams, one of the owners of Montana Cannabis, one employee was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant but no other arrests were made.

According to Williams, agents were executing a warrant signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch of Missoula.

A copy of the warrant served at a different facility and also signed by Lynch states that the warrant was issued on Friday but that officials had until March 24 to execute the search. It is not clear if more raids are planned in the coming days or weeks.

According to the warrant, agents were authorized to seize everything from marijuana and hashish and Ziploc bags to cell phones, computers and medical marijuana patient lists.

"(Judge Lynch) authorized federal agents to come in and enforce federal law above state law," Williams said. "This is a state issue not a federal issue. There shouldn't be federal agents on my ground when we've done everything we can to do this right."

Local officials in Lewis and Clark and Flathead counties confirmed their agencies' involvement but directed media inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Victoria Francis, assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, declined to comment on the raids other than to say that the U.S. Attorney's office would be issuing a press release in the coming days. Officers at the scene near Helena also refused to comment.

Williams told reporters that agents showed up without warning at the greenhouse west of Helena around 10 a.m. Monday. Williams said armed agents burst into the business with guns drawn and ordered employees to get down on the ground.

At least eight hand-cuffed people could be seen through the chain link fence that surrounds the facility. Several employees were released after questioning.

Federal agents donning paper masks, respirators, and what appeared to be oxygen masks attached to large yellow tanks, were seen through the large glass windows of the greenhouse, pulling plants from their black plastic pots and removing them from the building.

Medical marijuana supporters were outraged at the timing and scope of Monday's raids as lawmakers at the state Capitol continue to debate the future of Montana's medical marijuana law.

Tom Daubert, one of the lead authors of the 2004 marijuana law and founder of the pro-medical marijuana group Patients and Families United, condemned Monday's raids, calling them "calculated and political on the part of the federal government."

"Montanans have now spent nearly a year defining problem areas and proposing solutions to our law," Daubert said. "We are now at the height of the process of evaluating those choices and decisions and making those choices and decisions. I think all Montanans, regardless of our agreement or disagreement on medical marijuana, should unite in condemning the federal government for intruding in this way at this critical decision-making moment."

Until November Daubert was a part owner of Montana Cannabis. Daubert said he no longer has a financial stake in any medical marijuana caregiver operations.

As the raids were under way, lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee were in the process of voting on a House-passed measure to repeal the 2004 voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act. The panel failed to pass the measure on a 6-6 vote.

Barb Trego, a medical marijuana patent and the mother of one of the Montana Cannabis employees who was detained, came in tears from the Capitol to the greenhouse business. Trego said word that the raids were under way spread via text messages as she was sitting in the committee room listening to lawmakers debate the repeal measure.

Trego said she believed some of the senators who voted for repeal of the state's medical marijuana law had advance notice of the raids.

"Those smug senators that voted against it were sitting there laughing because they knew all of this was going on," Trego said. "Even though the vote didn't go their way they were all smiling at us."

Link

[vta]

Source: Daily Inter Lake, The (MT)
Author: Jim Mann


FEDERAL AGENTS RAID MARIJUANA OPERATIONS

Federal agents searched several medical marijuana businesses in the Flathead Valley on Monday, the same day similar raids were carried out in several Montana cities.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry confirmed that the lead agency in local searches was Homeland Security Investigations, formerly known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that sheriff's deputies assisted in the searches.

One of the searches was conducted at a building occupied by Four Seasons Gardening and Good Medicine Providers on Jellison Road in the Columbia Falls area.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana said she could not release more information on the statewide operation until the sealed search warrants were unsealed by court order.

However, the Associated Press reported that the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration were involved in a search at Montana Cannabis in Helena, where at least eight people were handcuffed at one point.

Similar searches were conducted at Big Sky Patient Care in Bozeman and at MCM in Belgrade.

A Flathead Valley medical marijuana care provider contacted the Inter Lake on Monday saying he had been in contact with at least five marijuana dispensaries that have been subjected to searches.

"It's essentially shut down every medical marijuana dispensary," Dan Decker said, adding that some of the dispensary owners who are being searched testified against a bill to repeal Montana's medical marijuana in a Senate hearing last week.

The repeal bill stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday morning.

Decker said he has not been contacted by authorities.

"I don't have a dispensary," he said. "I only have a few patients."

Not surprising the Feds are taking action and we've seen that in Cali for years but seriously the gear they are wearing is a bit crazy...makes for nice pictures in the press though!

[RoachClip]

It's fucking so sad, Their's no other way of saying it period.

[vta]

Originally Posted by Mountain

Not surprising the Feds are taking action and we've seen that in Cali for years but seriously the gear they are wearing is a bit crazy...makes for nice pictures in the press though!

Exactly! The new republican government there is trying to overturn the medical law. The FEDs saw this as a perfect opportunity I'm sure.







FEDS RAID POT SHOPS

HELENA - Federal agents with guns drawn raided a medicinal marijuana greenhouse on Highway 12 Monday, and one of the co-owners of Montana Cannabis says he was not given a reason why about 1,700 plants were taken.

Chris Williams said about a dozen of his employees were handcuffed, detained and questioned.

Agents asked if he knew the operation was federally illegal, Williams said, but would not give him any information.

"That's the surprise DEA raid - you don't get a heads up," he said, while standing outside the fence of the Montana Cannabis greenhouse.

Williams said he is waiting to see if he'll be arrested.

"I'm still a little bit in shock," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Agencies involved in the raid included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Montana said she could not comment on the raid, one of at least 10 statewide. A statement would be released soon after the search warrant is unsealed by a court order, she said.

Williams said he saw the warrant for one of the company's four stores.

"There were no 'whys' in the warrant," he said Monday afternoon. "They said they'd call me when they're done."

"I guess they have a problem with sick people trying to heal themselves with medical marijuana," he said.

Williams told The Associated Press that raids were taking place at his business' four locations. An advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access, said at least 10 businesses were raided in six cities across the state.

The DEA and U.S. attorney's office would not confirm how many businesses were raided.

The AP also reported that Montana Cannabis employee Brett Thompson, 30, said he stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and saw agents running up the driveway.

"They came in, guns drawn, got us down on the ground and in cuffs as fast as they could," Thompson said. Sheriff's deputies and Helena police officers stood guard. Inside, agents in DEA and FBI jackets wearing respirator masks and blue gloves yanked waist-high plants from their pots and hauled them out of sight wrapped in blue tarps.

A warrant obtained by Americans for Safe Access and signed by U.S. magistrate judge Jeremiah Lynch of Missoula listed 13 items to be seized, including marijuana and hashish, drug paraphernalia, computers and other electronic storage devices, cell phones, firearms, transportation and customer records, transaction records, cash, jewelry and vehicle titles.

The warrant, which was for Big Sky Patient Care of Bozeman, did not say why the items were to be seized.

"It's strictly a political move to stop us from providing medicine to sick people," Williams said.

Agents took the company's computers and data storage along with the plants, which Williams said were worth about $500,000. Williams said his partner's vehicle and another car owned by an employee were confiscated as well.

By Monday evening, Williams said he had not received any answers but only more questions, including "where I had all of the money hidden."

His bank accounts, both personal and business, have been frozen, he said.

From the side of Highway 12, passersby watched as agents confiscated the marijuana plants. As local law enforcement blocked the entrance of the greenhouse, the employees sat outside with hands cuffed behind their backs waiting to be questioned one by one. Williams said one employee was arrested on an outstanding warrant, but all of the others were released.

Barbara Trego, a worker at Montana Cannabis, stood outside crying as she watched the raid. The actions were "life threatening," she said.

"We've got patients that could die just by what's happened today," Trego said. "We have cancer patients. If they don't have their medicine for a week or two they will pass away."

"They're ruining people's lives," she added.

Trego said agents knocked down an unlock door with guns drawn.

"We weren't trying to hide anything. Our windows are open. Our door was open," she said.

[pearlemae]

It's time to vote the fuckers out period. Thats the only way its going to change. When the people get fed up like Wisconson then they will vote out the assholes and vote in the like minded people,and get the laws changed.:smo weed:

[vta]

A warrant obtained by Americans for Safe Access and signed by U.S. magistrate judge Jeremiah Lynch of Missoula listed 13 items to be seized, including marijuana and hashish, drug paraphernalia, computers and other electronic storage devices, cell phones, firearms, transportation and customer records, transaction records, cash, jewelry and vehicle titles.

Armed robbery...Take it all! Jewelry, cars and notice the 'customer records'...who knows, they might not even file charges....but regardless...that stuff is gone.

[dagnabit]

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Medical marijuana providers around Montana braced for possible indictments the day after federal drug raids. Here are the facts - federal officials executed 26 search warrants in 13 cities and towns across Montana.

Montana's U.S. Attorney's office says the raids were the result of an 18-month investigation into what it claims are illegal, large-scale drug trafficking operations. No talk about possible charges in the raids, but many say the office has brought fear into the medical marijuana community. That has patients worrying if they'll be able to get their medicine.

Chris Lindsey, a medical marijuana attorney, thinks the raids have one bottom line message. Lindsey says, "I think the message is be scared. We don't care how you operate. We're going to come in with our guns drawn. We're going to shove you down in the mud. We're going to put you in handcuffs for hours while we rifle through all of your personal information."

The DEA, FBI, ATF and local law enforcement cleared out at least 10 medical cannabis businesses in cities from Kalispell to Billings. Lindsey says there's no rhyme or reason for which businesses were targeted. "It doesn't appear that it was any particular policy or any particular business plan. These are individuals that come from all walks of life. From all different parts of the state." Lindsey said.

Linsdey says many are questioning the timing of the raids. After all, Monday was also the day a state senate committee failed to pass a bill that would have repealed the medical marijuana initiative.

Tuesday federal officials said the raids were the result of an 18-month long investigation. Besides taking marijuana plants, cell phones and computers, agents looked at bank accounts held by medical marijuana providers. Search warrants show they were looking for $4 million.

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney for Montana says his office will decide whether to seek indictments for manufacturing and distributing marijuana and failing to follow rules for depositing large amounts of cash in banks. U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter wouldn't talk on camera, but issued a statement. Cotter says in the statement, "Twenty-six search warrants were carried out yesterday where there is probable cause that the premises were involved in illegal and large-scale trafficking of marijuana. When criminal networks violate federal laws those involved will be prosecuted."

Two months ago Attorney General Eric Holder was in Missoula and said prosecuting marijuana crimes was not a priority, all while the 18-month-long investigation was ongoing.

There have been similar raids in other medical marijuana states like California, Nevada, and Colorado. Even without any indictments yet in Montana some of the businesses raided will not be able to reopen without their cash or their equipment.

https://www.nbcmontana.com/news/27208427/detail.html

By Emilie Ritter – Mon Mar 14, 11:12 pm ET

HELENA, Montana (Reuters) – Federal agents raided state-sanctioned medical marijuana greenhouses and dispensaries in several Montana cities on Monday, prompting an outcry from legalized pot suppliers.

The raids marked the first such crackdown in Montana by the federal government since a state ballot measure legalizing cultivation and possession of marijuana for medical purposes was overwhelmingly approved by voters there in 2004.

The busts also appeared to mark a reversal of the policy the Obama administration announced in 2009 when the Justice Department issued guidelines calling a halt to federal raids on state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries.

Marijuana is still considered an illegal narcotic under federal law.

The supply chain of pot-growing facilities and storefront dispensaries allowed under Montana's medical marijuana statute is little regulated and has expanded rapidly during the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the number of medical marijuana patients, or card-holders, has jumped from about 1,000 to 28,000 in that state.

Victoria Francis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Billings, confirmed that federal agents served search warrants across Montana, but she declined to give further details until the warrants were "unsealed."

A medical marijuana advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access, said nearly a dozen dispensaries and cultivation operations were raided by federal agents on Monday in such towns as Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, Great Falls and Helena.

There were no arrests reported in connection with the sweep. A copy of a search warrant obtained by the group from one of the cultivation operations raided said agents were out to confiscate marijuana, drug paraphernalia, computers, firearms, cell phones, cash and vehicle titles.

Chris Williams, co-owner of Montana Cannabis west of Helena, one of the biggest medical marijuana operations in the state, said his entire crop of nearly 1,700 pot plants were seized from a greenhouse facility about half the length of a football field.

"This is ridiculous", said Williams, whose operation serves nearly 300 patients. "I don't participate in interstate commerce. I only do business in Montana, and our state has made this legal for our citizens."

Williams said agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Administration, seized all of Montana Cannabis' computers, paperwork, plants and medicine, with assistance from local law enforcement.

"Basically, they've completely uprooted our business as best they can, without any reason other than they say, federally, marijuana is illegal" Williams said.

The Obama administration has delivered somewhat mixed messages about the liberalization of medical marijuana laws at the state level.

In a departure from the stance taken by the Bush administration, the Justice Department said in October 2009 it would no longer prosecute patients who use medical marijuana, or dispensaries that distribute it, in states where marijuana has been legalized for such purposes.

But in response to a measure on the California ballot last year that would have legalized small amounts of cannabis for recreational use in that state, Attorney General Eric Holder said in October 2010 that the U.S. government would continue to prosecute people in California for possessing and growing marijuana.

That ballot measure was defeated in the November, 2010 election.

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so much for the DOJ playing nice...

[David762]

Same Shite, Different Day. SNAFU.

[Thanks, President Obama, A.G. Holder, Drug Czar Kerlikowske, DEA Chief Leonhart, et. al. for reminding every citizen in the USA that you are a bunch of jack-booted goose-stepping corporatist fascists.]

The mafia didn't go anywhere, they just simply changed their title to pigs.
Very sad story's. TY for the post VTA.